Jack and method of making the same

ABSTRACT

A vehicle jack has a housing with opposed walls and pins extending between the walls and with one of the pins supporting a jack handle socket and a lifting pawl. The housing is in two halves and is assembled by inserting the pins through one housing half, then deforming the material around each pin hole to hold the pins rigidly in place, then assembling the jack operating mechanism and related parts with the housing half, and then assembling the other housing half with the pins and upsetting the ends of the pins at said other housing half. The method is applicable as well to other assemblies wherein cross pins are used to hold opposed members together.

United States Patent 1191 Potter et al.

[ 1 june5,1973

[541 JACK AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME [75] Inventors: Robert H. Potter, Benton Harbor; Bernard F. Ladewski, St. Joseph, both of Mich.

3,180,618 4/1965 Uln ..254/109 Primary Examiner0thell M. Simpson Attorney-Olson, Trexler, Wolters & Bushnell [57] ABSTRACT A vehicle jack has a housing with opposed walls and pins extending between the walls and with one of the pins supporting a jack handle socket and a lifting pawl. The housing is in two halves and is assembled by inserting the pins through one housing half, then deforming the material around each pin hole to hold the pins rigidly in place, then assembling the jack operating mechanism and related parts with the housing half, and then assembling the other housing half with the pins and upsetting the ends of the pins at said other housing half. The method is applicable as well to other assemblies wherein cross pins are used to hold opposed members together.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures JACK AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in vehicle jacks and to methods of making such jacks and other structures requiring the precise and rigid location of pins therein.

In the assembly of various devices, such as automobile bumper jacks, it is often necessary to secure one or more pins in such device. In the manufacture of bumper jacks in particular, the jack housing or body is usually formed of two sheet metal halves having preformed pin holes for receiving pins that ultimately extend transversely of the body. Such pins may, for example, support the jack handle socket, or be a stop for the latter, or be a pin that supports a load member spring. In assembling the jack housing, the pins are usually inserted into one housing half and are retained therein by heads on the pins. Mechanism may then be installed on the housing half as is required, and then the other half of the housing is assembled with the pins and the ends of the pins upset. Such a procedure, however, requires some arrangement for retaining the pins in the first mentioned housing half to insure that they are present in the final stages of assembly. Furthermore, after the assembly has been completed, the pins tend to have a degree of looseness with the housing whereas it is desired that they be rigid with respect to the housing.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide a method of rigidly securing a pin to a structural member that forms part of a device in which one or more such pins are used to hold or assist in holding opposed structural members together.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method of assembly of a structure, such as a vehicle jack, having sections with opposed spaced walls and which includes forming spaced apart apertures in one of the walls with the material of the wall in the region surrounding each aperture being offset from the adjacent portion of the one wall, inserting a pin into each aperture, deforming the offsets into rigid clinching engagement with the respective pins to form a rigid assembly of the pins and the one wall and subsequently assembling the other section with the pins such that the pins project through the other wall. The multiplicity of pins that are first rigidly clinched to the one wall serve as locating elements for assembly of the other section with the first-mentioned section.

Another object of this invention is to provide a jack housing or other structural assembly constructed in accordance with the foregoing method whereby the structural rigidity of the housing is improved.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a jack housing or other housing assembly in which the pins therein are rigidly secured in place on one half of the housing in an early stage of assembly to insure the presence of the pin at predetermined locations in the final stages of assembly.

The attainment of the above and further objects of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of one-half of a jack housing with cross pins therein;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken through the central axis of one of the pins prior to the pin being clinched in place;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 3 and showing the pin being die-clinched to the housing;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of the assembled jack housing and showing the same mounted on a jack column;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary vertical elevational view of the structure of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 8--8 of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawing, there is shown a jack body or housing 2 that comprises two companion sheet metal housing portions 4, 6. The portions 4, 6 have walls 8, 10 that each integrally include upper channels 12, 14 whichcooperate to form a guide 16 for receiving a column 18 on which the housing 2 is mountedfor vertical movement. The channels 12, 14 terminate in abutting flanges 20, 22 that are secured together by a rivet 24. At one end of each wall 8, 10 are downwardly inclined flanges 26, 28 which substantially abut at the bottom of the housing. At the other end of the housing 2, each wall 10 includes load-receiving flanges 30, 32 which are parallel at the upper portion of the housing and have notches 36 for receiving the load pin of a conventional hook member (not shown) that is used to engage a vehicle bumper or the like. At their lower ends the flanges 30, 32 have converging stretches 40, 42 that terminate in facewise abutting sections 44, 46 that are secured together by a rivet 48.

In the form of the invention herein shown, there are three cylindrical pins 50, 52, 54 extending transversely of the housing. Depending upon the nature of the device being assembled in accordancewith the present invention, there may be a greater or lesser number of pins. In the case of the jack housing herein shown, the pin 50 pivotally mounts a jack handle socket 56 between the walls 8, 10 and also a holding pawl 58 which is adapted to engage the ratchet teeth 60 on the column 18. Pivotally secured to the socket 56 is a lifting pawl 62 that is biased by a wire pawl spring 64 also connected to the pawls 58, 62.- A direction-setting lever 66 of known type is pivotally secured to the housing portion 6 and is used to compress or relieve the pawl spring 64 so that rocking movement of the handle socket 56 either raises or lowers the housing 2 when the latter is under load. The downward movement of the socket 56 is limited by the pin 52. A conventional load member spring (not shown) may encircle the pin 54.

The ratchet and pawl arrangement with directionsetting lever is known in the art and is generally of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,] 10,475 to Achterberg et al. dated Nov. 12, 1963. Suffice it to say, however, that when the pawl spring 64 is biased by the lever 66 to the up position, an upward rocking of the socket 56 lifts the pawl 62 upwardly to snap it over the next higher tooth on the column 18. Meanwhile, the load is supported by the holding pawl 58. Upon subsequent downward movement of the handle socket 56, the pawl 62 serves to support the housing while the latter is moved upwardly sufficient to snap over the next higher tooth. When the reversing lever 66 is shifted to the down position the mechanism will operate in a reverse manner to lower the loaded housing 2.

The manner of installing the pins 50, 52, 54 in the housing wall 8 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with respect to the pin 52. However, it will be understood that the pins 50, 54 are installed in the wall 8 in a like manner. Around each pin hole 70 the wall 8 is formed with a conical offset 72 and the pin head 74 rests on the offset 72. The shank of the pin 52 projects loosely or slidably through the hole 70. With the pin 52 in place as shown in FIG. 3, the offset 72 is plastically deformed to clinch the periphery of the pin 52. The same thing is done with respect to the remaining pins 50, 54 which are in their associated holes that have offsets therearound. The clinching of the pins may be done separately or the operation may be carried out simultaneously for all of the pms.

To clinch each pin, an arrangement such as shown in FIG. 4 may be used. There a die bushing 76 may surround the pin 52 and have an inside diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the shank of the pin. The pin and wall 8 may be backed by a die punch or support 78 having an annular recess 80 for receiving the pin head 74. As the punch and die are brought together, the offset 72 is flattened out as at 72a (FIGS. 4 and 5) so that the edge of the material at the hole 70 clinches the shank of the pin. If desired, the arrangements in FIGS. 3 and 4 may be inverted from those illustrated.

After the pins 50, 52, 54 have been clinched in place as aforesaid, the pawl 58 and the handle socket 56 with attached pawl 62 may be mounted on the pin 50. Other parts of the jack assembly are also mounted within the housing section 4, including any parts which may be mounted on any of the other pins. Then the mating housing portion 6 is assembled with the housing portion 4. The housing portion 6 is preformed with holes 86, 88, 90 for receiving the ends of the respective pins 50, 52, 54 and the ends of the pins 50, 52, 54 that project laterally of the wall 10 may be staked or upset as shown for instance at 92 (FIG. 6) with respect to the pin 52. The staking or upsetting operation retains the housing portion 6 assembled with the pins. The rivets 24, 48 may be passed through preformed holes therefor and staked in place.

The deformation and clinching of the pins 50, S2 aid in the assembly of the device by providing precise and rigid positions of the pins and thus making it easier to assemble components with the pins. Moreover, the ar rangement provides a structurally rigid housing since the pins are rigid with respect to one side of the housmg.

The method of the invention is herein shown as applied to a jack assembly. However, it will be apparent that the principles of the invention are applicable to other devices wherein pins are used to assemble structural members of the device and it is desired to locate the pins precisely and rigidly with respect to one structural member prior to assembly with another structural member.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A jack comprising a sheet metal housing having sections juxtaposed to provide opposed spaced apart housing walls with aligned pin-receiving apertures, spaced apart pins each spanning the space between said walls and projecting through the respective aligned apertures, jack operating mechanism in said housing with rockable handle socket and pawl means pivotally mounted on one of said pins as the essential load bearing pin, the material of one of the walls in the surrounding region of each pin having been plastically deformed into rigid clinching engagement with the periphery of each pin to retain one of said sections rigidly assembled with said pins and to support the handle socket and pawl means on the said load bearing pin without canting thereof for alignment of said pin with the recipient aperture in the other section, and means including cooperating portions on the other wall and on said pins for retaining said other section assembled with said pins.

2. A jack according to claim 1 in which said mechanism includes a rockable jack handle socket and pawl means.

3. A jack according to claim 2 in which the housing walls .have facewise abutting portions, and said last named means includes rivets extending through said abutting portions.

4. A method of assembly of a jack structure including a housing having sections juxtaposed to provide opposed spaced walls, spaced apart pins each spanning the space between said walls and projecting therethrough, and a component of a jack operating mechanism in said housing and pivotally mounted on at least one of said pins as the essential load bearing pin; said method comprising forming spaced apart aligned apertures in said walls with the material of one wall in the region surrounding each aperture being offset from the adjacent portion of the wall, inserting a pin into each aperture, plastically deforming said offsets into rigid clinching engagement with the respective pins to form a rigid assembly of said pins and said one section, assembling said component of the jack operating mechanism with the clinched load bearing pin for stable support thereby without tilting during assembly, assembling the other section with said pins projecting through the respective wall apertures thereof such that said last mentioned wall is spaced from said wall of said one section and said component is between said walls, and then securing said pins in assembled relation to said wall on said other section.

a s :0: w 

1. A jack comprising a sheet metal housing having sections juxtaposed to provide opposed spaced apart housing walls with aligned pin-receiving apertures, spaced apart pins each spanning the space between said walls and projecting through the respective aligned apertures, jack operating mechanism in said housing with rockable handle socket and pawl means pivotally mounted on one of said pins as the essential load bearing pin, the material of one of the walls in the surrounding region of each pin having been plastically deformed into rigid clinching engagement with the periphery of each pin to retain one of said sections rigidly assembled with said pins and to support the handle socket and pawl means on the said load bearing pin without canting thereof for alignment of said pin with the recipient aperture in the otHer section, and means including cooperating portions on the other wall and on said pins for retaining said other section assembled with said pins.
 2. A jack according to claim 1 in which said mechanism includes a rockable jack handle socket and pawl means.
 3. A jack according to claim 2 in which the housing walls have facewise abutting portions, and said last named means includes rivets extending through said abutting portions.
 4. A method of assembly of a jack structure including a housing having sections juxtaposed to provide opposed spaced walls, spaced apart pins each spanning the space between said walls and projecting therethrough, and a component of a jack operating mechanism in said housing and pivotally mounted on at least one of said pins as the essential load bearing pin; said method comprising forming spaced apart aligned apertures in said walls with the material of one wall in the region surrounding each aperture being offset from the adjacent portion of the wall, inserting a pin into each aperture, plastically deforming said offsets into rigid clinching engagement with the respective pins to form a rigid assembly of said pins and said one section, assembling said component of the jack operating mechanism with the clinched load bearing pin for stable support thereby without tilting during assembly, assembling the other section with said pins projecting through the respective wall apertures thereof such that said last mentioned wall is spaced from said wall of said one section and said component is between said walls, and then securing said pins in assembled relation to said wall on said other section. 